Use Web to solicit volunteers, fundraise
Afraid of the Internet? Get over itIf you have some sort of techno-phobia that is keeping you off the Internet, get over it, advises Jay D. Cushman, MS, MBA, a consultant with Health Planning & Development in Portland, OR.
The Internet is a new vehicle for hospice managers, benefiting them in a multitude of ways. It is a library at your fingertips and a quick, easy way to communicate with hospice managers across the country. Also it’s an effective marketing tool. "The hospice will benefit by being exposed to a growing audience of Internet users. These users include potential patients, referral sources, volunteers, and donors," says Cushman.
Here are several ways a hospice manager can use the Internet:
• Subscribe to a mailing list.
There are many free mailing lists on the Internet that cover a variety of topics including hospice. To subscribe, just find the appropriate mailing list and type your e-mail address in the message box. "Subsequently, when you go back into your e-mail box via American Online or whatever service you use, all the messages that other members on that list have posted will go to your box," says Joyce Flory, PhD, creative director for Alliances Interactive in Chicago.The messages will vary from someone posting the name of an interesting article they read to a question on how to solve a particular problem. Mailing lists are useful for getting answers to questions from colleagues, learning about conferences, and staying up with developments in your professional field, says Flory.
Also, the lists are an excellent way to make contacts. "People often include their name, title, institution, and phone number. Therefore, the lists are a good way of getting the names and numbers for people who you might not otherwise ever have an opportunity to meet," says Flory.
Here are three Internet addresses to get you started:
— [email protected]. EDU (This is a hospice mailing list. To subscribe, click on "Listserv user commands reference" when you enter site.)
— For Hospice Management Advisor subscribers, you may join your peers at "Listserve@listserv. medec.com and put the words "subscribe hospice" in the body of the message followed by your first and last names (for example, subscribe hospice jane doe.)
— http://www.liszt.com (This address will provide a list of mailing lists.)
• Visit newsgroups on the Web.
Newsgroups don’t deliver messages to your e-mail box, but they do connect you to groups of people with similar interests. You post a message in a forum and then return at a later date to retrieve answers. To uncover newsgroups of interest, Flory suggests you visit Deja News which is a World Wide Web interface to newsgroups. The address is: http://www.dejanews. com/newusers.html• Create a Web site.
"A Web site provides new avenues for educating the public about hospice and forges new links to the local community," says Cushman. A Web site can be used to solicit donations, physician referrals, and volunteers. It is a public relations and communication tool that every hospice manager should consider, he says.The information on your site can be something simple, such as the copy from your printed brochure. "You can leverage the investment you made in your brochure by publishing it on the Internet without a lot of expense and get more benefit from the effort you put into your printed material," says Cushman.
Consider options carefully
The content of your Web site will help you determine how to develop your site. If you are just posting your brochure, partner with another health care organization or find a community-based site that will include the information, advises Flory. Community-based sites will often give nonprofit organizations a page, while a local hospital that has an existing site may allow you to create a subsite to their site. "You already have the superstructure there and know people are hitting the sites. You become a content provider for that site, and they promote it," explains Flory. A local Internet service provider (ISP) will know if there is a network of community service pages you can join if you decide to go that route.Should you decide to develop a site on your own, consider finding content partners to help provide information. Some of the vendors you contract with might be able to create pages for your site to keep the information fresh and interesting so people will return.
The process of developing a Web site and promoting it can be time-consuming and costly, so carefully consider whether to create a site or become part of an existing one. Flory suggests a hospice manager answer the following questions before launching a site:
— Who are we trying to communicate with? Is there an audience now or a potential audience?
— What is our mission and how does a Web site fit with our overall mission?
— What is the type of information we are going to communicate month after month?
If you decide to create a Web site, ask a local ISP for a list of names of programmers who can help create the site, advises Cushman. Also, there are software programs available that help people develop their own Web pages such as Microsoft Front Page. Look at Web sites other hospices have created for ideas. (For information on where to find other hospice sites, see list of Web addresses on p. 21.)
Develop a budget site
A Web site that doesn’t involve a lot of fancy graphics can be developed for about $200. However, programmers will charge each time you want to update your site. "If you are going to update your site frequently, it is probably best to have someone at the hospice take a training class to learn to make simple changes to the pages," says Cushman.Whether you decide to create your own site or become a content partner on another organization’s site, ask other local page sponsors to link to your page and build in links to other related pages. This will help people find your site, says Cushman.
• Assemble a list of Web addresses for patients and family members.
Patients and family members who have access to the Internet can obtain information on a variety of issues such as death and dying, as well as support from people in similar situations. Therefore, Cushman recommends hospice managers create a list that can be distributed to clients. However, be sure to check each site carefully before listing it. "The Internet is not an authority about anything. As a consumer of Internet material you really have to beware of what you are reading," he says.Flory suggests providing patients with information on how to be a wise consumer of Internet material along with the list of sites.
[For more information, contact Joyce Flory, Alliances Interactive, 260 East Chestnut Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Telephone: (312) 944-3654. Fax: (312) 944-2414. E-mail: [email protected]. Or contact Jay Cushman, Health Planning & Development, 12721 SW Edgecliff Road, Portland, OR 97219. Telephone: (503) 636-3920. Fax: (503) 636-0436. E-mail: [email protected].]
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